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It'll Be a Sad Christmas if Wyoming Can't Rustle Up Some Ornaments

Sending a Tree to the U.S. Capitol Is Easy, But Decorating It Taxes the Locals

By

Leslie Eaton

Updated Oct. 22, 2010 12:01 a.m. ET

JACKSON, Wyo.—Finding a giant spruce to adorn the U.S. Capitol grounds at Christmas wasn't a problem here in the forested foothills of the Tetons.

The challenge has been to find 5,000 giant, handmade Christmas ornaments—and the people to make them in the nation's least populous state.

Despite months of urging, federal officials couldn't get...

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